1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of automated pharmaceutical packaging machines. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an automated pharmaceutical packaging machine which simultaneously fills a product package template with desired solid pharmaceutical dosing requirements while also simultaneously sealing a final package containing a plurality of individual patient doses.
2. Description of the Related Art
There currently are a wide variety of automated pharmaceutical packaging machines available. The majority of these machines are designed for packaging a single pharmaceutical product into pharmaceutical package material. These machines typically transfer individual doses of solid pharmaceutical products into a cavity formed within a clear plastic cover member. Usually a plurality of cavities are formed in a single sheet of clear plastic material and a corresponding plurality of pharmaceutical products are inserted by the filling machine. Once the solid pharmaceutical members have been inserted into the cavities, a backing material is then adhesively applied to the clear plastic sheet to seal the solid pharmaceutical products within the cavities.
These automated machines satisfy the majority of solid pharmaceutical packaging requirements where a single product is inserted into a package. However, especially in managed care facilities, there is a significant need for an automated pharmaceutical packaging machine which is capable of selectively depositing one or more pharmaceuticals into each of the individual cavities in a pharmaceutical product package.
Managed care facilities now use patient specific packaging that provide all of a patient's prescription drug needs for a given period of time. Existing packaging solutions typically employ solid pharmaceutical product package cards that contain all the given patients' dosages for a one week period of time. Each dose of one or more pharmaceuticals is stored in a clear plastic cavity. These dosing cards usually include three to four different clear plastic cavities for any given day that correspond with each prescribed dosage time for a patient's medication requirements. Currently there are no automated systems for selectively filling a plurality of different dosing cavities with a plurality of different solid pharmaceutical medications for a single patient and which are also capable of simultaneously sealing the package cavities.
As a result, it is necessary that the managed care facility go through a more time consuming process in order to create a package containing a patient's dose of solid pharmaceuticals for a given period of time. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an automated pharmaceutical packaging machine which is capable of automatically selecting and depositing one or more solid pharmaceutical products into a plurality of medication packages for a patient while also simultaneously sealing and further processing a solid pharmaceutical product package.